University of London

Research is a systematic inquiry to understand the contemporary world. Research is based on a question to answer a relevant issue in the real world or in the theoretical frameworks used to understand the real world. A good research question has three attributes: Continúa leyendo What is a good research question?

Specific Subject Knowledge and Skills

What I need to do a particular job, like computer programming, marketing, financial analysis, etc. They are developed through formal education through established institutions (degrees or independent courses) or online training. Always ask myself:

How valuable are those skills to me?

What do they worth now and in the future?

What is the Return on Investment (time/ money) made in getting those skills?

How long will those skills be valid for?

General Workplace Skills and Awareness

What is needed to function in any workplace: communication skills, team work, time management, problem solving, organization and planning. They are called transferable skills and are usually developed on the job. It is very important to know how to identify them and transfer them when moving from one job to another.

Also important are Organization Awareness and Sector Awareness, which are related to the particular business/industry of the workplace I am currently in.

Career Management Skills

Skills necessary to succeed at a particular job and throughout my whole career. They help in moving between jobs. Through them I can decide which specific subject skills I need to gain to achieve goals and which general workplace skills and attitudes I need to develop. They can be grouped by:

Self-evaluation: Help identify what is important to me and what I want from my career now and in the future. Help me assess my value to potential employers.

Option evaluation: Help prioritize future options, weight potential costs and benefits of future actions to be able to make a choice.

Option implementation: Act on the choices made and increase the chances of future success.

Take control and be proactive, take initiative. Have clarity: what is important and what are my career goals. Be confident in the career decisions I make and how I present myself. Courage to try new things, new experiences, risk to take more chances.